Chapter 24―Joshua

For the rest of the afternoon, we made love and snuggled up in bed together. For a girl who was a virgin when I met her, she had a sexual appetite that was nearly insatiable.

“Damn, girl,” I said after the third time together that day, “I can hardly keep up. Do you think you’ll be this into me when we’re living together? I’d hate for you to get tired of me.”

“I could never get tired of you,” she said. “You’re easily the sexiest person I’ve ever known, and you’re great in bed. I’m more worried that you’ll get tired of me and want to hook up with hot Italian women.”

“Not a chance,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s only you and me from here on out.”

“I really don’t want to, but should we get dressed?” she asked. “Reese and Abi will be here in twenty minutes, and I don’t think they want to see us in the nude.”

“You’d be surprised,” I joked. I got out of bed and took a quick shower. It would be a long flight, and I didn’t want Amanda to be disgusted with me. I wanted her to see the very best of me at this point in the relationship. I didn’t want to scare her off before she was mine for good.

Amanda gave me a dirty look before getting into the clothes I picked out for her. The black velour bottoms hugged her curves and showed off her perfectly rounded butt. The maroon sweater hung past her hips, creating the opposite effect of the pants.

“I look ridiculous,” she said, sliding her feet into a pair of sneakers.

“You look cute. Besides, that’s the whole point of a disguise. You’re not going to stand out in a crowd wearing that. Besides, you’re going to be more comfortable. I’m willing to bet that you’ll thank me for picking out this outfit during hour ten of the flight when you’re trying to fall asleep.”

“As long as you think I look cute, I suppose it’s not so bad,” she said, tying her hair back into a ponytail.

After we got dressed, we heard a knock on the door and both jumped. We were expecting Reese and Abi, but we could never be too sure. The thought of being caught by the police made me feel on edge.

I crept toward the door and looked through the peephole. Sure enough, I saw Reese and Abi standing impatiently outside the door. I opened the door quickly and ushered them inside before anyone could see us.

“How was your day in the city?” I asked.

“It was nice,” Reese said. “We did some shopping, but we started to get a little paranoid with all the people around, so we ended up at a movie theater. Enough about us, though. What happened to you guys? I’m almost a little surprised that you guys managed to make it out of there.”

“Once I got your call, I sped home and got Amanda through the back door. We grabbed our stuff and hightailed it out of there.”

“That’s it?” Abi asked. “We’ve been hearing reports of blood. Did something else happen?”

I looked toward Amanda. I knew that I’d cut her because it would help us in the long run, but I hated admitting that I purposely caused her harm.

“We had to frame Ben somehow,” she said, lifting her sleeve to reveal her bandage. “It was to ensure that they would test for my DNA. We had to leave quite a bit to cause some concern and motivate the police to arrest him.”

“Oh, my gosh,” Abi said, clamping a hand to her mouth. “Are you okay?”

“It looks a lot worse than it really is,” she said, giving a weak smile. Her arm was wrapped thick with gauze, but I could still see some red coming through the white bandage. It made my chest hurt to see her in pain. I knew she was being tough for everyone, and it did make me feel better.

“Thanks for taking one for the team. Make sure Josh is extra nice to you. You deserve it,” Reese said, patting her on the back.

“Don’t worry,” she said, giving me a wink, “he is.”

Reese smiled at me. I never really took the time to get to know Reese, but in this moment, I wished we’d had more time to hang out. I had always dismissed him for being a dirtbag like Ben (and myself, if we’re being completely honest), but he was a nice guy who cared a lot about Abi. It was too late now, though. They were headed off to Amsterdam, and we would probably never see them again.

“Here are your passports,” I said, handing the two little blue books to Abi and Reese. They leafed through the pages, making sure everything looked legitimate.

“These are great,” Reese said. “Are you sure they’ll work?”

“For the price we paid for them, they absolutely should. Besides, I trust Ryan. I helped him out of a tight spot once, and that sort of thing creates loyalty between people.”

He smiled. “Just like double-crossing your asshole friend makes you closer to everyone else involved. I’m going to miss you, Josh.”

“I’ll miss you too,” I said, shaking his hand.

“Amanda,” he said directly to her. “I can’t apologize enough for all of this. I hope you can forgive us all someday.”

“You’re already forgiven,” she said. “I don’t hold anything against you. You did what you needed to do to get by, and my life has forever been changed for the better because of it.”

This was all getting too sentimental for me. I don’t know if it was because I had spent all afternoon in bed with Amanda or because I was leaving familiar faces and places behind forever, but I was starting to get emotional.

“Do you have the plane tickets?” I asked, changing the subject.

Abi handed two slips of paper to me.

“One for you, one for Luna,” he said, using my fake name.

“You guys are really good at planning things under pressure,” Amanda said, looking amazed. “You should do this sort of thing for a living.”

“Help criminals flee the country and frame their friends?” Reese asked. “Don’t put these kinds of ideas in my head, Amanda. We’re trying to get away from that sort of thing.”

“Right,” she said, smiling. “Forget I said anything.”

“What are you planning on doing when you get there?” Amanda asked.

“I think I’m going to do some writing. I’ll have enough money to afford my unemployment, and I’m feeling particularly inspired at the moment.”

“Hopefully,” Abi chimed in, “I can find work at an art museum, or maybe even run my own gallery. If we get desperate for work, there’s always the red-light district.”

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” Reese said. “We’re past that point in our lives.”

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her on the head. “We should leave soon. Our flight leaves at eight, and we don’t want to get stuck in traffic.”

He wheeled Amanda’s small suitcase over to the bed.

“I’m sure your luggage tag was expensive, but we had to burn everything that could identify you. I can replace it if you want.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I’m just glad to have my clothes back.”

Finally, he handed me a small sheet of paper. “I’ve transferred your share of the money to an offshore account. It’s very secure, and the police won’t find it in their investigation. Here’s all the information you need to access it.”

“Thanks, Reese,” I said, looking at the balance. I had never seen so much money in my life.

He handed me an envelope that was sealed shut. “I withdrew some cash for you guys to get started. It’s not enough to draw suspicion when going through customs, but it should be enough for you to survive on for the first few months.”

I squeezed the thick envelope. I tried not to get too excited about my new fortune. I would have to have Amanda teach me about managing my money. I handed the cash over to her. She would be more responsible with it.

“Shall we, babe?” Abi said, tucking the new passports into her purse.

“Yeah.” Reese nodded. “It was nice knowing you guys,” he said, shaking my hand again. “Good luck.”

“You too,” Amanda and I said in unison.

When they left the room, Amanda slid her arm around my lower back. I rested my arm across her shoulder.

“Well,” I said, pulling her closer. “It’s just you and me from here on out.”

“Let’s get out of here,” she said, opening her pack and reorganizing our belongings. “We’ve got plenty of cash, and I’m starving. Let’s have one last meal in America.”

“What are you in the mood for?”

“Maybe a burger or a nice, juicy steak.”

“Sounds good. Let’s go.”

I didn’t want her to carry anything with her injured arm, so I juggled our luggage as she slid our room key across the reception desk and dropped the letter to her parents in the mail. I pulled a baseball cap low over my eyes, and we found a restaurant to kill some time.

“I can’t believe we’re moving out of the country today,” I said as I took a bite of my bacon cheeseburger.

“I know. It seems so strange to be moving away from the place I called home the last twenty-six years of my life,” she said. “Is there anything that you regret about your time here?”

“Absolutely,” I said. “I regret how poorly I treated decent people. I even regret how poorly I treated kind of shitty people. All of my relationships with women were either shallow or selfish. I think you’re the first person I’ve been intimate with that I didn’t use sex as a tool for personal gain.”

She looked at me and raised her eyebrows.

“Okay, sure, the first time was admittedly for my personal gain. But, every time after that was all out of affection for you. I didn’t know that feelings had anything to do with it, but the sex with you is infinitely better than it was with anyone else.”

“That’s comforting to hear,” she said sarcastically.

“What about you? What do you regret about your life here?”

“I wish I would have put my needs before others’ more often. I wish I could stick up for myself and take control of my life. But, when I think about it, I’m glad I didn’t do anything differently. Everything in my life aligned perfectly to meet up with you.”

“I suppose you’re right,” I said, finishing my meal. “I don’t know if I believe that everything happens for a reason, but in this case, it certainly does.”